"Behind" versus "In back of"
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"Behind" versus "In back of"
Do you have a preference? For me it's always "behind".
Non fidendus est crocodilus quis posteriorem dentem acerbum conquetur.
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I only say "behind." I might've heard "in back of" before, but it sounds like crappy English to me. Apparently it was coined in analogy with "in front of," which of course is perfectly standard, but "in back of" sounds about as bad as "mines" does for "mine" (cf. yours, his, hers, etc.).
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
Yes. "Behind." On account of "in back of" being totally ungrammatical. "At the back of" is fine, but I have never encountered "in back of" in any medium whatsoever. Where is this current?
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Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I could imagine as an 'abbreviation' of 'in THE back of' - 'in back of the shop', for instance, to maybe mean the part farthest from the door, or perhaps in the backrooms of the shop. But as a synonym for 'behind'? I'm almost as puzzled as Dew.
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But the river tripped on her by and by, lapping
as though her heart was brook: Why, why, why! Weh, O weh
I'se so silly to be flowing but I no canna stay!
But the river tripped on her by and by, lapping
as though her heart was brook: Why, why, why! Weh, O weh
I'se so silly to be flowing but I no canna stay!
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I've heard "in back of," mostly in the American South, but it always makes me cringe.
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
What little I can find suggests it's either generally Southern US English or specifically African-American Vernacular English. Hm, I wonder why it stands out as "crappy" or "cringe"-worthy to a crowd that usually rejects simple prescriptivism.
(aka vbegin)
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I'll freely admit that Southern American English generally makes me cringe. Not because it's wrong but because I find it unpleasant sounding.vbegin wrote:What little I can find suggests it's either generally Southern US English or specifically African-American Vernacular English. Hm, I wonder why it stands out as "crappy" or "cringe"-worthy to a crowd that usually rejects simple prescriptivism.
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I've heard it before and I dislike it, even though given the existence of "in front of", there's little basis to complain. Watch hockey and you'll probably hear about the puck going in back of the net.
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I use both, though I wouldn't use "in back of" in a paper. "In back of" also doesn't fully overlap with "at the back of" and not at all with "in the back of", as "in back of the car" specifically means behind the car, while "at the back of the car" and "in the back of the car" both refer to the inside back of the car to me. (Though, in other instances, in back of and at the back of share the same meaning.) For reference, I speak Eastern Ontarian English.
If you search online, you'll find the expression used on a considerable number of news sites, even reputable ones like the BBC. You'll also find an entry on it in a number of dictionaries (typically labelled as "American" or "North American"), including Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, Macmillan Dictionary, Wiktionary, Collins American English Dictionary, Oxford US English dictionary, etc. So I wouldn't consider it to be "ungrammatical" or even remotely limited to Southern American English. In fact, it may have once been a British expression that fell out of use there, but remained in use in North America.
If you search online, you'll find the expression used on a considerable number of news sites, even reputable ones like the BBC. You'll also find an entry on it in a number of dictionaries (typically labelled as "American" or "North American"), including Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, Macmillan Dictionary, Wiktionary, Collins American English Dictionary, Oxford US English dictionary, etc. So I wouldn't consider it to be "ungrammatical" or even remotely limited to Southern American English. In fact, it may have once been a British expression that fell out of use there, but remained in use in North America.
Dictionary.com Unabridged wrote:Usage note
55. Although some object to their use, the phrases in back of and the shorter—and much older— back of with the meaning “behind” are fully established as standard in American English: The car was parked (in) back of the house. Both phrases occur in all types of speech and writing.
The Canadian Encyclopedia wrote:Standard British English no longer uses the phrasal prepositions "back of" and "in back of," but Canadian English preserves both.
Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English wrote:Also, the use of the phrase 'in back of' as a variant for 'behind' was common in British English.
Divided by a Common Language: A Guide to British and American English wrote:Here are some expressions currently used in the US that were once well known in Britain but have long since gone out of use there: son of a gun, I guess, in back of (for behind).
On Montreal English wrote:Certain influence of French may be ascribed to a relatively high use of the Americanism in back of (i.e. behind) in Montreal, in comparison to Ontario where its use is not half as high (Orkin 1970: 155). Orkin proposes that Montrealers borrow this expression from bilingual French Canadians who employ it in place of en arrière de, which is its literal translation. (source)
Chances are it's Ryukyuan (Resources).
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
"in back of" is still heard here (British Columbia) from time to time. I know I've used it, and I'm certain I got that from my Dad's family whose English is a bit more Oldschool BC than more recent arrivals to the area (ie, fucking everybody). But it doesn't overlap totally with "behind". I'm not entirely sure where the boundaries lie though ... and regarding the puzzlement on the part of those who haven't heard it used, "in back of the shop" could refer to the back rooms of the shop but it could also refer to (say) the alleyway behind the building. Although in such a case you could also say "out back of the shop". Barbaric, I know.
<Anaxandridas> How many artists do you know get paid?
<Anaxandridas> Seriously, name five.
<Anaxandridas> Seriously, name five.
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
In Chicago, there's even a neighbourhood known as Back of the Yards because it was located on the far side of the Union Stock Yards southwest of downtown.